Usually when it happens IRL they try to mask it to make it to sound authentic. Dominic West (British actor) played a Baltimore cop in The Wire so well that you would have no idea he was British and honestly thought he was an American from Baltimore. Usually good voice actors can emulate other accents. These voice actors in these games aren't even trying lol. Still feels odd to me.

You just compared an award winning television show on a premium cable network to a video game.

God i wish, in my experience most games use american actors which gets a bit tiring after a while. This is why i love it when japanese games allow you to have the japanese voices with english subtitles.

I know for Xenoblade and Last Story the reason is they got localized in EU way before US got a hold of it. Personally, I like it much better, to me the accents fit much better, and it feels easier to listen to.

This pretty much. The US seems to be considered bad for RPGs and europe good. So ALOT get released there but not here. Or are later brought over here. Thus the VA bit. Plus in a fantasy world it works for the theme classic fantasy settings provided of course.

---------- Post added 2013-01-26 at 10:59 PM ----------

Originally Posted by Pendulous

No, he's right. Professional voice actors should be able to emulate accents, otherwise they won't get the part. That's assuming the part requires an American accent though.

But also remember the western VA community isn't like japans. Wasn't until recently in fact that they didn't get constant grief and it can and probably is more of a side job than a full field here.

Then some companies like say funimation keep an almost private stock so those with alot of experience(note i said experience not which doesn't necessarily mean good) are isolated from other areas/companies on occasion.

Shouldnt be that. Japanese people actually generally love Americans. They think we are stylish/cool and like to emulate us, also America was one of the main contributors to their tsunami relief if I'm not mistaken. They even had a test on how other countries felt about the USA and Japan ranked the highest in how much they liked USA, even more than Americans themselves.

Shouldnt be that. Japanese people actually generally love Americans. They think we are stylish/cool and like to emulate us, also America was one of the main contributors to their tsunami relief if I'm not mistaken. They even had a test on how other countries felt about the USA and Japan ranked the highest in how much they liked USA, even more than Americans themselves.

There's a generation gap you have to know.
Newer generation, sure, older, not so much.

There are around 30 countries in Europe, sorry if I cant recognize the accents of each one. Would you be able to tell what state an American is from based on their accent? I highly doubt it.

Arrogant. You're comparing America to Europe. A country to a continent. You may want to think you're as diverse as Europe is, but you really are not. Considering that most people I know can distinguish between a lot of the main European accents, and even the minor ones, I hardly can see why you're not ignorant. Or perhaps we're just more cultured, take your pick.

Actually answering your question. Games usually aren't controlled by the same company if they're rereleased outside of the originating country. Even if they are, they are local employees at the most working alone while collaborating with the original company for future content/expansions, not expatriates. And anything rereleased in English is not going to have different accents for each version released according to whatever part of the English speaking world it is being released in. If those games were translated in England, why not have English actors?

Also, good luck finding people in Japan that can speak English with an accent you want, since you say voice actors should be from the country the game is taking place in. And judging by your attitude so far, if you do happen to come across a game that has accents you like, it's definitely going to be Asian-whatever country you're from (and I'm guessing America), which is really just whatever country you're from.

Edit: If you want British developers for a western version of the game to hire Asian actors, I'm sure those actors will be British too.

Arrogant. You're comparing America to Europe. A country to a continent. You may want to think you're as diverse as Europe is, but you really are not. Considering that most people I know can distinguish between a lot of the main European accents, and even the minor ones, I hardly can see why you're not ignorant. Or perhaps we're just more cultured, take your pick.

Well clearly I can tell how classy and respectful your people are, thats apparent. And how you like to take to arguing over things which arent even the topic of discussion.

But lets break it down slowly (since you need it). If I had said Last Story had all British actors, that becomes susceptible to being disputed since I cant say for certain that it is 100% accurate. I didnt find it relevant to look up each individual voice actor they used and their ethnicity. It was clear to me that many are British, however each and every one? I cant say. But since its a big deal lets do some digging work... Well every single voice actor in the game was British except 1 (Lowell) who was Scottish. So like I thought it was vast majority but not all. Not like it matters anyways.

Im not sure where hositility is coming from this isnt bashing other countries accents. Some of my favorite actors are European (Clive Owen and Michael Fassbender) Im also aware they come from different countries. This is about Japanese games not being authentic with their English voice overs and why do they seem to prefer using British ones over others even when the game itself is set in a country that isnt anywhere near the UK.

Well clearly I can tell how classy and respectful your people are, thats apparent. And how you like to take to arguing over things which arent even the topic of discussion.

But lets break it down slowly (since you need it). If I had said Last Story had all British actors, that becomes susceptible to being disputed since I cant say for certain that it is 100% accurate. I didnt find it relevant to look up each individual voice actor they used and their ethnicity. It was clear to me that many are British, however each and every one? I cant say. But since its a big deal lets do some digging work... Well every single voice actor in the game was British except 1 (Lowell) who was Scottish. So like I thought it was vast majority but not all. Not like it matters anyways.

Im not sure where hositility is coming from this isnt bashing other countries accents. Some of my favorite actors are European (Clive Owen and Michael Fassbender) Im also aware they come from different countries. This is about Japanese games not being authentic with their English voice overs and why do they seem to prefer using British ones over others even when the game itself is set in a country that isnt anywhere near the UK.

And here's your ignorance coming out. The first paragraph was to bash you, the rest of my reply was attempting to answer your question. But you seem to have missed that and just went on the defensive. Doesn't matter if something isn't the topic of discussion, I'm replying to YOUR own reply, which was a reply to a reply of your topic of discussion (lol), so it is actually something somewhat related to the topic. And if you say I'm not addressing the topic of discussion, why did you deviate from it too? Also, cultured =/= classy. You're not really being respectful of others either, so lets stop the hypocrisy.

And since you missed me answering your question, I'm going to link it here again so you can see what I had to say about your TOPIC. Why completely ignore what I wrote as well? I'd rather like to break it down to you slowly, but I think we need to stop all this anger and just move on. The hostility really came from you generalizing a whole continent.

Originally Posted by Munklemonk

Actually answering your question. Games usually aren't controlled by the same company if they're rereleased outside of the originating country. Even if they are, they are local employees at the most working alone while collaborating with the original company for future content/expansions, not expatriates. And anything rereleased in English is not going to have different accents for each version released according to whatever part of the English speaking world it is being released in. If those games were translated in England, why not have English actors?

Also, good luck finding people in Japan that can speak English with an accent you want, since you say voice actors should be from the country the game is taking place in. And judging by your attitude so far, if you do happen to come across a game that has accents you like, it's definitely going to be Asian-whatever country you're from (and I'm guessing America), which is really just whatever country you're from.

Edit: If you want British developers for a western version of the game to hire Asian actors, I'm sure those actors will be British too.

And now answering your reply to my reply, I understand you don't want a game to not have authenticity by having different accents from their setting, but what do you want then? Do you want American accents? Something you're comfortable with? Would you rather have Japanese people attempting to speak English? Even if they have a perfect English accent, what type do you want? American English? Australian English? German English? Because it definitely doesn't seem like you want English (British English).

You can say the comparison wasnt the best although USA is comparable to EU in size (and does have vastly different accents in certain regions). If you would like something else it could be would you be able to understand the difference between a Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Taiwanese, etc accent and the point would still stand. I still reject any claims of ignorance for not wanting to generalize a game but whatever your entitled to your own opinion.

Originally Posted by Munklemonk

And now answering your reply to my reply, I understand you don't want a game to not have authenticity by having different accents from their setting, but what do you want then? Do you want American accents? Something you're comfortable with? Would you rather have Japanese people attempting to speak English? Even if they have a perfect English accent, what type do you want? American English? Australian English? German English? Because it definitely doesn't seem like you want English (British English).

I want games that are based in a country to have some comparability to that countries accent. For Last Story the explanation of being released in EU makes sense and as Ive said numerous times it didnt bother me since they can use whatever accent they want for games based in made up lands. Its Ni No Kuni being a game based in USA sounding British that personally hurts the immersion. It just sticks out like a sore thumb.

I guess I want to know who is controlling where the game is translated? If each game is being translated in England I would like to ask why? Is it simply they like their work more? Are they cheaper? Using Australian actors honestly makes more sense to me due to the closer geographics.

You're a fine example of how gamer communities have become infested with endlessly whining and bitching, arrogant, opinionated, unreasonable, all the way immature, completely delusional, tendentially psychotic, insulting individuals one really doesn't want to be linked with. And playing with you guys is certainly no fun at all. I don't know where this kind of folks spawns from. Must be a nest somewhere ...

^
^This. I usually listen to japanese voices for animes and games if I can because a lot of dubs are awful. Though its worth noting ghost stories is a good example of american dub doing better then the japanese voices.

More and more Japanese made games that I am playing are using British actors. Basically every single character in Last Story had an accent, possibly not all British but certainly European. It wasnt so bad because its in a made up world and whose to say how those people speak, although still noticeable.

Yet I also see games like Project Zero 2 about 2 Japanese girls and theyre both British! Like wtf. How hard is it to get someone who is asian to do the voices in English. Then theres Ni No Kuni a game that is supposed to take place in the USA and listen to them talk. BRITISH! More and more games are doing it too not just these, Im just using these as an example.

So can someone explain to me whats the deal with it? Do the Japanese developers not realize things can be in English without having the person actually from England? This is once again nothing against English actors but it completely derives from the experience when the game is supposed to be taking place in the United States or Japan and everybody is using a damn British accent.

Trust me, you don't want japanese voice actors do the english voice overs.

You can say the comparison wasnt the best although USA is comparable to EU in size (and does have vastly different accents in certain regions). If you would like something else it could be would you be able to understand the difference between a Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Taiwanese, etc accent and the point would still stand. I still reject any claims of ignorance for not wanting to generalize a game but whatever your entitled to your own opinion.

I want games that are based in a country to have some comparability to that countries accent. For Last Story the explanation of being released in EU makes sense and as Ive said numerous times it didnt bother me since they can use whatever accent they want for games based in made up lands. Its Ni No Kuni being a game based in USA sounding British that personally hurts the immersion. It just sticks out like a sore thumb.

I guess I want to know who is controlling where the game is translated? If each game is being translated in England I would like to ask why? Is it simply they like their work more? Are they cheaper? Using Australian actors honestly makes more sense to me due to the closer geographics.

Now we're getting somewhere. I think you're looking into this too deeply. Just look at the company who releases the western version of the game. Locality is a huge factor. They'd most likely use actors from the country their company is based in. And lol, Australian voice actors? Fang and Vanille in FF13 made me laugh so hard all the way through. The idea of it worked but it just seemed...wrong (I'm Aussie).

US is comparable to EU in size, but diversity in Europe is much greater. You may have different accents and all that in different states, but Americans are Americans. We can tell that it is an American accent. Also, different parts of each country in the EU have different accents and ways of talking too =P. You're one country united (in most ways at least).